Orbis Fortuna
by J-Cat2003
Summary: New Earth, the year 2050. It has all happened before and will all happen again. But if history has a habit of repeating itself then what will they do with their second chance?
1. Prologue

**Prologue **

"_It had all happened before and it will all happen again"_

New Earth. Population 6 billion. Home to millions of species including human beings spread out across spread across 510,072,000 km and six, giant continents. Two thirds of the planet's surface was water and its atmosphere was a delicate balance of nitrogen, oxygen, argon and carbon dioxide. Every year the planet's temperature rose as over-use of fossil fuels led to global warming and a melting of the polar ice caps. It had become common place to see environmentalists, married couple and ex-military Lee and Kara Adama lobbying President Tigh and slashed across the evening news.

Everywhere man was destroying the every planet which had given them itself as a home. Species were becoming extinct every single day and forests being carelessly hacked away. Resources were running low and the air becoming more and more polluted due to the very increasing use of cars and airships. Most didn't care one jot for the environment. They lived in the here and now.

If they didn't watch out they'd destroy the one thing they need to live.

.~.

Orbited by a moon which had first been mapped by the hand of an American called Neil Armstrong which was no home to the first international space station under the charge of one English Doctor named Gaius Baltar and his wife Sice an underwear model turned scientist. Their daughters Gina and Lida were said to be smarter than both of them combined and two of the future hopes for the human race.

Advances in Artifical intelligence were coming in leaps and bounds. Adama industries had just revealed a brand new AI model whom had stood next to her creator, William Adama, and had looked anything but man made. With a price tag of just over 25 million she wasn't cheap but she was the future or so the propaganda said.

A reporter by the name of D'Anna Biers had shoved a microphone in his faced and asked him if his robots would one day process the ability to think for themselves.

Bill had grinned and replied "You tell me? The future is the future and the possibilities are endless. Wouldn't you want a robot who could cook your meals, dress your children and clean your houses? Don't you want our lives to be easier?"

That sound bite had been in every house across the western world by six o'clock the next night, D'Anna pretty face heralding Bill as the future of technological advancement and the very human race itself.

Bill watched it on his widescreen HD TV longing back into his leather desk chair with a wry smile. On screen the robot was posing with Sam Anders the face of company. The boy may not have been the sharpest pencil in the bunch but he sure was pretty. And pretty sold in this day and age. As if to demonstrate his point Carolanne, model, songstress and 20 years his junior, walked into the room, her dress loose and barely brushing the tops of her thighs.

Whiskey in hand and her hands on his face he knew that she wanted one thing from him but he didn't care. As he said pretty sold and she'd damm well sold herself to him.

.~.

Humans had walked this planet for just over 150,000 years ago and there were endless debates over how the species had originated. Some believed that they had been created by the divine intervention of God others argued that some random fluke of evolution had caused bacteria to crawl up out of the swamp and become man. Both side had merit and neither were disproven beyond doubt not that either side had ceased in trying to prove their case.

Doctor Laura Roslin and her team spent their time pouring over the remains of a woman said to be their mitochondrial mother whose remains had been found in Tanzania several years earlier as if searching for the key to their entire exsistence. Her most trusted assistant, a pretty Asian woman named Sharon Valerii had commented that she was somewhat obsessed. So far they had achieved nothing if not uniting Sharon and Laura's half sister Maya in their quest to drag her kicking and screaming away from her desk.

That lunch time had been no different. Laura had looked up to see Maya and Sharon hands on hips and coats in hand.

"Come on Lou, it's a lovely day and you're all cooped up over this dead body" Maya had prompted her, her baby daughter Isis on one hip. She had made Laura an aunt just over two years ago and along with Maya's lovely husband Billy they made the picture perfect family.

"And we wont take no for an answer" Sharon informed her

Laura pushed herself up of off the desk with both a weary sigh but a small smile "All right" she conceded grabbing her own coat as she spoke.

"Good answer" Sharon told her with a wide smile and she was soon outside in the sunshine, Isis in her arms and the wind in her hair.

.~.

The scripture claimed to have all of the answers but the more they were closely studied the more holes were found in its texts. Life here began out there? The exact meaning of that sentence seemed somewhat ambiguous and those in a religious fervour, especially one Doctor Galen Tyrol son of one of the high persists, had dedicated their lives to finding the truth hidden between verse. Nothing concrete had been found but both sides were realising that if the truth was ever to be understood then perhaps they would have to pool resources.

For some they didn't care. Just the fact that they did exist was enough and all deeper thought was pushed away. Capitalism had found its roots and spawned ushering mankind into the materialistic era. The shrine of the celebrity had been born and it was thriving. None more so than the God of Celebrity himself Samuel T Anders, movie star and model, he couldn't even walk to the grocery store without being hounded by ecstatic fans and ruthless paparazzi usually alerted to his movements by manager and fiancé Tory Foster. It was quite clear in the industry who had the balls in that relationship. And it wasn't Sam.

Bulbs flashed in his face but Tory got a steely grip on his arm and pulled him along, her lips at his ear and grip unrelenting "Good thing you did you hair this morning like I said"

He grinned at her "you're always right Tory'

And she usually was. It was why she was so good at her job and one of the richest managers in the entirety of Loa Angeles, the city of Angels.

And together the two of them had the world at their feet.

.~.

Of course there were two people who knew exactly how life had come to be on New Earth. Caprica and her eternal lover Gaius had walked hand in hand through the generations and ages. Watching as time had passed them by, as building had grown to the skies and man had launched into space. Always watching, always. But silently. Never alerting the humans to their unspoken vigil as the seasons came and went.

But they were there and they always would be.

That day they stood, arms wrapped around each other, as they observed the life below them. It was busy day in the heart of New York City. People were hurrying back and forth as there never seemed to be enough time in the day to get everything done. Young girls with daddy's money browsed the windows of expensive shops and irate business man jostled one another to get their precious cup of caffeine before returning to their offices.

"Remind you of anywhere?" she asked him and he laughed

"Didn't you already ask me that once?" she smiled slightly as they looked upon the race that had vowed to protect.

"Maybe" she turned her head to look down at the street corner a few hundred metres away "They have no idea do they?"

Both of them watched as a frazzled looking Laura Roslin flanked by Sharon and Maya was nearly mowed down by a stretch black limo. As she flipped the car the V much to the two young women's amusement William Adama sipped his champagne with a smirk on his face looking out of the window. In a nearby park Galen and his oldest friend Karl whom had been grabbing a bite to eat watched with some slight horror as the pretty redhead was nearly knocked over. Sharon's eyes locked with Karl's as the two men watched with laugher as the one flipped the limo the finger and a spark of electricity jumped between them. His attention was caught however by the sight of a young couple, megaphone in hands, in the centre of the park and when they looked back the three women were gone.

"No" Gaius answered her, kissing her neck with smooth lips "They have no idea about the history they share but as they say, it's all happened before…."

"And it'll all happen again" she finished as they began to make their way down the park slope both sharing a knowing look as they passed a shop advertising the new Adama AI's. All happened before indeed.

The world was different but the players were the same. Only time would tell if it would all end up the same. One thing was for sure history always had a habit of repeating itself.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"_We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world" The Buddha_

The Hera Project, so named by Laura after the wife of Zeus, had taken over her life. Before Hera had become the most important person in her world she had been many things other than a forensic anthropologist; a mother primarily. Zachary Nathaniel Roslin was 16 and the most precious thing in her world even if he failed to share her love of science. He had reached the stage where the most important thing in his life was girls and alcohol but they got along pretty well even so.

But as she gazed on the face of the woman that could be the foundation of their entire race she couldn't help but be enthralled by her. Laura felt as if she knew her despite the 150,000 gap between their exsistence. She'd broken her wrist aged 10, her leg aged 14. Hera had given birth to four children and died of heart failure aged around 80. She had been very beautiful too when she'd be alive or so Laura guessed from the features of her skull. High cheekbones and slim face. When Laura had seen the reconstruction that Maya had drawn up for them she'd felt as if she were starring into the face of a long lost friend or relative.

She would give anything to have the chance to actually meet Hera in the flesh, hear her speak and hear her story firsthand. The mother of the whole human race, mother Earth even.

"Good morning Laura" a voice cut across interrupting her musings and Laura looked up to see Sharon entering clutching two cups of Starbuck's coffee in her hands. Same as always, cappuccino for her and latte for Sharon.

"Morning Sharon" she replied while taking her steaming cappuccino from her and sipping gratefully.

Sharon was probably her closest friend aside from her sister as sad as that sounded. That had spent nearly every day together for the last 6 years since she'd started working for her and she was as good as Aunt Sharon to Zak. Laura liked to tease him for the crush he had on the extremely pretty woman but she had to respect his taste. As she studied her she couldn't help but think once more that Sharon looked incredibly similar to the face of Hera.

Though they may just be a sign that she was unhealthily obsessed.

"Said much today?" Sharon asked one eyebrow cocked towards the skeletal remains and the other rising upwards.

"Oh yes, we were having a nice chat about President Tigh's new policy on education before you arrived" Laura responded with a bright grin that Sharon returned both of them making their way into Laura's office.

"You have a meeting with our benefactor this afternoon" Sharon informed her "A Mr Adama I think"

Laura rolled her eyes "Just what I wanted to spend my afternoon doing - entertaining the billionaire robot king"

"He does pay for this place Laura" Sharon gently reminded her and Laura had to sigh. She didn't like William Adama or his company. He was just the same as every other billionaire; egotistical and self-absorbed but they needed funding. An operation such as the Smithsonian Institute wasn't exactly cheap and without the Adama family they probably wouldn't even have the paper that was used to inform her of his visit.

They hadn't met but she'd knew enough about him to guess she wouldn't like him. At all.

"I know Sharon but I have so much work to do. I need to start identifying those two Jane Doe's that got sent over from South America and I would rather not waste time playing the good host" Sharon laughed and handed her several stacks of messages which Laura looked through absently.

Two skeletons, one male and one female, had arrived a week earlier dating from around the same time period as Hera. Laura was of course immediately excited; they too may hold some clue to the origins of the human species. It was a forensic anthropologist's dream; her very own Adam and Eve. She was the jealously of nearly every one of her peers within the Anthropological community and the small part of herself that she attempted to keep under control was thrilled.

She looked out over the floor of her department and onto the raised podium where the two bodies lay ready to be examined. But it would have to wait. Everything would have to wait for the wonderful Mr Adama.

"I'll start on some paper work, give me a call when he's here"

Sharon nodded and left, Laura noticing that she had quickly become engaged in an animated conversation with one of the other scientists Felix Gaeta. They had just received a shipment of a murder victim who had been immersed in a vat of salt for four months and had become somewhat crystallised in sodium. It had caused much interest and rumour within the department even though they all sure have known better. It didn't matter how many corpses a person had seen there were still some that caused far more interest than others.

Though Laura didn't deal with murder victims she couldn't help but end up being roped into a few cases. Felix and Dee, another criminal anthropologist, had become her and Sharon's main two drinking buddies over the last few years as they had worked together more frequently.

She sighed as she thought of her impending meeting. She hated these things; they always made her feel like a frakking tour guide.

Laura Roslin hated tour guides.

.~.

Billy Keikeya made his way into the office of the President of New Earth to find President Saul Tigh half lent, half collapsed over his desk talking furiously on his phone. From the angered tone Billy guessed he was on the phone to his wife, he always took on that tone when Ellen was involved so Billy was used to witnessing their domestic disagreements. Luckily she rarely found time to visit the government buildings (neither of them actually knew if she knew where it was actually located) a fact that both Billy and Saul were grateful for.

Saul looked up at him and rolled his eyes cause Billy to smile "No Ellen, I don't care what colour you repaint the master bedroom"

After a few more moments of small talk he finally just put the phone down on her and gestured to the seat in front of the desk which Billy took taking out a pile of papers from the briefcase he had lowered to the floor next to his chair.

"Did Bill call?" Saul asked and Billy nodded

"Yes he did Mr President" He handed him a print out "He sent you this report. Apparently the new models are around 89% battle effective. There's still some trouble with their automated missile systems but he's hoping to fix that in the next few weeks"

Another hand out changed hands on which was outlined a schematic of what appeared to be a human body and a list of complicated logarithms and equations. The future of Planetary Defences – the ultimate AI weapon. A solider who never got tired, who was difficult as hell to destroy and who could think on thief feet to adapt to any situation. The unit that had just been released into the public eye by Adama Industries was not even close to the models the firm were already producing for the Ministry of Defence in terms of advancement and the capacity for free will.

"Good" Saul replied as he read of the pages of complicated math that he could barely even begin to understand "I hope the prototype will be ready for the next Forum council"

Billy looked though his notes that he had made from their earlier phone conversation "Mr Adama hopes so Mr President. The first prototype, the Boomer model, should be ready in just a few days if all runs according to plan"

Saul couldn't help as a smile crossed his face. He knew that Bill wouldn't let him down. They'd known each other for years, hell they practically been best friends since they'd been in diapers. Their fathers had been drinking and gold buddies so they have been thrust together from an early age.

William Adama really was the future of the human race even if it wasn't in the exact way that harpy D'Anna Biers had reported. Saul hated that poor excuse of a woman, she had a habit of taking things out of context and she sure could spin a line. Though hit appeared even she had fallen under the infamous Adama charm. She'd practically been salivating as she reported on the launch.

"Anything else that urgently needs my attention Mr Keikeya?" Saul asked him handing back the reports that he had just skim read in order to be filed away somewhere far away from the public eye and where those damn, anti war hippies couldn't get a hold of them. That was all he needed; they wouldn't hesitate to bring down his entire career even though everything he did was for the good of their planet and their race. Not that they gave a frak about that.

"Just a message from Doctor Baltar, apparently they've found some strange remains. They seem to have been part of some ship that had broken up in some astral body's orbit. The material isn't anything found on Earth and from the design of the fragments found it seems to be some sort of warship. There were also some fragments of what appeared to be human remains found and recovered. He assured me he'll send you a full report once analysis is complete"

Interesting. This would only cause more debate over their origins which had been nothing but a powder keg since they'd found that damm body. And the frakking Smithsonian were dragging their feet over the whole matter; Saul was convinced they just didn't want to admit they hadn't found anything of interest. That Doctor, Laura something or other, was pretty but she was damn talented at avoiding his phone calls.

"Call Doctor Baltar back and tell him I want a full report as soon as possible. Thank you Mr Keikeya" He dismissed Billy with a nod of his head just as the phone began to ring once more. He sighed massaging his temples with a hand as the phone continued to buzz nosily as if the caller knew they were being ignored.

He answered it and the irate voice of his wife filled the room "Saul, the builders have painted the damn thing powder blue, I told them I wanted it sky blue!"

Saul sighed and went about his hardest duty as President - placating the First Lady.

.~.

It was easy to pick out Billy's desk. It was the one covered in pictures and his daughter's artwork. It was even more noticeable today when he saw the charming sight of his wife perched on the edge of it, Isis laughing loudly in her arms.

Once she had caught sight of him she slipped out of her mother's embrace and down onto the floor. Running as fast as her little legs would carry her she made her way over to him and was laughingly swung up into his waiting arms. Her lips bumped into his cheek clumsily.

"Daddy!" she cooed at him happily, one hand tugging at his hair "Lunch time!"

"Okay little lady" he told her with a bright smile kissing her on the forehead and making her giggle. Billy still had no idea what he done to deserve his remarkable daughter or his gorgeous wife but he sure was indebted to whoever had sent them to him. Maya kissed him in greeting and she tasted like cinnamon.

"Isis wanted to come and surprise you" Maya smiled fondly at her daughter who was still nestled happily in her father's arms "so we made a picnic"

Billy looked behind her to see the red wicker basket sat on his chair "I made cake!" Isis informed him happily leading Billy to notice the faint traces of pink icing that outlined her mouth.

"I hope you didn't eat them all" he teased her and she buried her head in his shoulder shyly

"Not all of them daddy" she assured him and he kissed the top of her head chuckling. Maya's hand squeezed his arm.

"Come on Billy, it's a gorgeous day and it's your lunch hour. You're getting almost as bad as Laura for working through your lunch period" she scolded him swiping him gently on the arm. He looked thoughtful for a moment

"Come on daddy! Cake!" Isis babbled enthusiastically causing her dark curls to bounce gently.

Billy and Maya had been young when they'd had Isis, 20 to be exact and neither of them had felt ready. But now he couldn't imagine his life without his daughter and he wouldn't have it any other way. Ever since he had made an honest woman of her a year ago their little family had been complete and neither of them could be happier.

"Alright then baby, let's go eat cake!" Isis kissed him nosily and Maya smiled affectionately at him as she slipped off the desk edge grabbing the basket as she went. Linking her arm through his and kissing his cheek with soft lips they made their way out of the building and into the sunshine filled courtyard just outside the government building.

Spreading out a blanket in the nearby park filled with more business men than families Maya had set out the food as Billy had watched Isis dance manically in a wide series of circles only returning when her mother had waved an icing topped cupcake at her. As Billy tucked into his chicken sandwich he turned to his young wife

"So how come your not bothering your sister this afternoon?"

Maya shrugged "Sharon said she had some big important meeting this afternoon so I decided to come see my lovely husband instead"

She was adorable and Billy lent in to kiss her, in the process getting icing all over his chin which caused Maya to fall into a fit of giggles as she licked it off. They were sure they were getting funny glances from the surrounding businessmen but they didn't care. They were young and in love and that was the most incredible thing in the world.

"Galen sent us an invitation to his barbecue this weekend" Billy informed her and she thought hard for a moment trying to place the name Galen.

"Is that your writer friend?" He laughed at her forgetfulness. That was hopefully one trait Isis hadn't inherited that particular gene from her though he hoped beyond measure that she inherited her looks rather than his own.

"Yeah it is. He and his fiancé Cally have just bought a house together"

"I can imagine our dream home…"

They got lost together in their thoughts as they both imagined that house with its airy windows and wooden floors while they daughter ate her star sprinkled cupcake with a smile on her face.

.~.

Caprica and Gaius stood hand in hand watching Billy and Maya lying in one another's arms, Isis playing a few feet away blowing bubbles into the wind gleefully. A small smile danced on Caprica's face and she turned to Gaius to kiss him tenderly

"She's so beautiful" she commented quietly, Gaius squeezing the fingers laced through his own gently "I wonder what God has planned for her"

Gaius grinned at her "Haven't you been telling me since Kobol that we can't ever know the will of God?"

"I know" she said wistfully "but still, I hope that she doesn't have to live through the same pain as her first embodiment had been forced to endure. She's too full of joy and love for such a fate"

Gaius bent down to pick up a paper that someone had dumped at his feet. The front page was mostly covered with a large shot of Sam Anders and the new AI model from Adama Industries. Gaius began to read with a cynical expression and a raised eyebrow "She might not have a choice"

"I thought you agreed that it might not all have to happen again, not this time" her voice was somewhat pleading, pain in her eyes

"You've seen what Adama's working one. An AI robot army doesn't that sound familiar to you?" he showed her the front of the paper which she took from him and threw it into the nearest trash can showing exactly what she thought of what he had just said. She heard him snort in response to her actions.

They started making their way across the park, past Billy and Maya then past Isis who was still blowing bubbles but waved a chubby hand in their direction. Caprica returned the wave and smiled at the young girl who proceeded to carry on with the task of blowing bubbles. Caprica felt her heart ache at the sight. She looked so much like Hera had done at her age and just like Hera had been the hope of the Cylon race, this child was just as much a miracle. Every single child was a blessing from God.

The one thing Caprica had always wanted; to have a child and the one thing that was impossible for her.

"I hope not Gaius, I really do" her voice was cheerless and he turned to her to take her into his arms, a reassuring hand on her back. She lent her head onto his shoulders his arms the one place that had brought her comfort no matter how many worlds they had witness come into exsistence and burn away into the infinite blackness of history.

"Me too, me too"

.~.

Bill snapped his phone shut with an annoyed sigh. Once more he was forced to bail Lee and his wife out of prison for trying to harass the President. The only reason the two of them weren't behind bars was because Saul had a sense of humour and Bill had a lot of money.

He assistant Kat raised her eyebrow at him, the thin strip of hair disappearing under the wild explosion of black curls atop her head.

"Lee again sir?" she asked and Bill nodded closing his eyes and cradling his head in his hands. His head pounded and his eyes throbbed. Stupid idiot, he'd been a thorn in his side since he'd hit puberty.

"When will that damn fool ever learn? The President has more pressing matters to attend too than the plight of some penguins in the arse end of nowhere"

With a jolt the car pulled up in front of the Smithsonian institute most of which had been built with the proceeds of Joseph Adama's many generous donations during the course of his lifetime. Bill had continued his work in memory of his father though his own interest in the institute's work was non existent. He didn't want to waste an afternoon meeting some anthropologists but he had to play his part and feign some interest in some dead chick from over 150,000 years ago.

The woman who'd met him was pretty in a dark skinned, dark haired type of way though she wasn't his type. He'd always had a thing for blondes personally though he harboured a soft spot for redheads since he'd met Lee's mother nearly thirty years ago. God, she'd been a hell cat and formed most of his most pleasant memories.

The office he had been led to had been one of the most unusual offices he had ever seen. It was filled to the brim with books, no doubt priceless artefacts, skulls, human remains and what seemed nearly every type of handheld weapon ever produced by mankind. On the desk sat a set of three Katakana swords, a framed picture of what he assumed was her family, a skull and some sort of jade statue of a woman. It smelt strangely chemical and he was slightly startled to see an entire human body laid out piece by piece on a white topped lab table.

Who the hell was this woman?

"Mr Adama?" a soft voice enquired and he turned to see a woman watching him. Red hair twisted into a bun atop her head so that several tendrils had fallen down and framed her face. Her lab coat was open give him a view of the tight brown dress she wore underneath which clung to her invitingly feminine curves. However he was filled with the most peculiar feelings, not lust or desire but a strange sense of déjà vu.

"About time" he responded and he knew in that moment whey he felt strange. It was as if he already knew her. But that was just frakking stupid; he'd never met this woman before in his life. He'd sure he'd remember a woman like her.

She sent him an annoyed glance "I'm Doctor Laura Roslin"

They shook hands and he couldn't shake the sense of familiarity. She showed him to a seat and they began their meeting Laura explaining about what they had so far discovered about Hera, about the two new bodies and offered to show him the crystallised remains of their Jane Doe atop the table in the examination area which was currently being rehydrated so she could be identified. He'd politely declined and they'd parted ways soon after, his last view of her being of her cleavage as she bent over the skeletal remains she informed him about earlier.

"Was she a nightmare?" Kat asked him once he was back into the safety of his limo. He'd shrugged; he had no idea how to answer that one so he choose to ignore the question instead asking Kat if she'd successfully bailed his son out of jail.

That night as he slept he'd had the weirdest dream. He been dismounting some type of transport he'd never seen before and they she was waiting for him, Laura Roslin though with long black hair that made her features stand out in sharp relief. They hugged each other tightly, her tears on his neck.

"_I love you"_

His heart had seared with joy "_About time" _

Bill had no frakking clue what to make of that though he did vow to drink less ambrosia before going to bed in future.

.~.

In a far away forest hundreds if miles away from New York City in a clearing by the edge of a little lake whose water ran clear as glass sat the remains of a long since abandoned cabin. Two graves sat alongside it engraving long since eroded away by the wind and rain. Ivy curled around them though now disturbed by the archaeologists who had happened to stumble across it. Dirt was still strewn across the ground though the tools and the trenches were long gone.

It was peaceful here. Bird song rang around the air and the sun shone down upon the once proud cabin with a golden beam that illuminated everything it touched. Footsteps were embedded in the ground though no body had visited this place in months.

The woman who stood gazing upon the sight had tears in her eyes, her hair dancing in the wind and her hand wrapped around herself. She had stood in her silent pilgrimage for several hours, unmoving even when the wind had picked up and her skin had become frozen.

"I love it" she exclaimed quietly as a hand reached up to caress her shoulder. Her own hand reached up to cover it with her own.

"They need us" the masculine voice informed her and she turned to see her male companion stood behind her, face red from the brush of the wind. She kissed him on the cheek which was smooth and unmarked.

"I know they do but I wish they didn't" her sigh was heartbreaking and she looked down tears falling onto the ground with a silent desperation that echoed around the clearing poignantly.

"I feel the same but we have to go" He smiled at her, a hand stroking her face and his lips on her forehead. She sent him a watery smile and took his hand in her own.

"It all happened before and it'll all happen again"

"Not if we can help it" he assured her and they began walking away from the gravesite little by little fading into the wind with each step until not a trace of their presence remained aside from a single tear on the lush grass.


	3. Chapter 2

"_All human beings, by nature, desire to know" – Aristotle_

"_If you want to know your past - look into your present conditions. If you want to know your future - look into your present actions" – Chinese Proverb_

Laura clicked on her Dictaphone as she began her primary examination of the sets of remains on her autopsy table. The first was a male or so she summarised from the more prominent brow ridge and slanting of the frontal bone and a square jaw. The rugged architecture and rounded supraorbital margin supported her initial conclusions. She put age around 60-80 from the prominent fusing of the cranial sutures though of course she couldn't be exactly sure. There was a high rate of skeletal deformity; the bones were thoroughly riddled with osteriopropris though in a somewhat less advanced stage. The stress markers around his hips joints and elbow sockets gave some clue to the obviously physical occupation he had when he'd been alive.

After the dirt and forest debris were removed from the bones using water and a soft brush by Felix, a number of faint cuts became visible in the left ribs and the mid-back. The number of discrete cuts in three ribs and in one vertebra suggest that this male had stabbed a minimum of three times. He also had a pre-mortem broken hyoid suggesting that he had been strangled. She noted no additional evidence of trauma and concluding that he had died from the damage to his hydroid due to strangulation. Examination of his fingers revealed them to be broken in several places pre mortem and shortly before death probably from fighting off his attacker.

She lay a hand on his face and felt the rough bone of his cheek through the latex glove she wore. What had this poor soul been through? With his deteriorating health he probably hadn't stood a chance though it hadn't stopped him fight with everything that he had.

The woman was a different matter entirely. The architecture of her skull was smooth, the mastoid process smooth while the supraorbital margin was sharp. Her pelvis was small and unmarked telling Laura that she had never given birth though she had miscarried sometime around her thirtieth birthday. Her mid-facial characteristics such as a sloped orbits suggest that she had been a white Caucasian perhaps in her mid 40'sto early 50's at the time of death or so the fusing of her cranial structures and from the surviving canines. Laura ran her fingers over a long since healed fracture in her shoulder, probably from childhood due to the rate of bone growth around the break and she had played tennis or so the stress markers of her elbows suggested.

They was no identifiable trauma as the cause of death but analysis of the bone marrow had shown traces of breast cancer, Laura concluded that this disease had been the cause of death. Not as violent a death as her fellow subject but no doubt just as painful poor woman. Working quickly and efficiently she took core samples of bone from both subjects to be sent to a specialist in ancestral genetics over in Washington while also taking samples of tooth enamel, hair follicles and nail to be sent to various others.

She flipped open her notes on the two subjects. Felix had managed to procure two workable strands of DNA from the subjects and the possibility that they had been relatives had been quickly dismissed. Had they been lovers? Husband and wife? That was something that their bones just couldn't tell her.

Maya who occasionally worked for them pro bono as a Facial Reconstructionist, drawing up portraits of how the individual could have looked when they were alive, was already busy working from the digital scans of their skulls that Laura had emailed her a few hours before. Soon she would be able to gaze upon their faces and she felt a bubble of excitement well up within her at the prospect.

Could they have been Hera's family? Part of her really hoped they were as yet more pieces of the puzzle would be neatly slotted into place though DNA analysis between the three samples was still ongoing. She looked up to see Felix hunched over his computer, back rigid as he worked. Dee was also around inspecting the bones of a cadaver that had been burnt beyond recognition in an old Ford Fiesta just outside the city. That meant the air smelt less than pleasant but she was used to it. The smell of death was in some perverted way even pleasant to her now, it was comforting and familiar.

It was worth enduring anything if she could give these people a name, a face and a past and if in the process she managed to unravel the secrets of her entire race then that was just a bonus.

"Hello Laura"

She looked up sharply as the musical tones of her step mother Elosha rang across the room. A warm smiled filled her face at the sight of the short, dark skinned woman dressed as exuberantly as usual in a heavily decorated headdress and shawl. Elosha had been good as a mother to Laura since she'd been a teenager and she held a great respect and affection for the priestess.

"How can I help you Elosha?" she asked, bending down so the smaller woman could plant a kiss on her cheek.

Elosha moved passed her examining the two sets of remains with an interested eye "Your father told me about the two remains that you had found. About how they come from around the same time as Hera"

Her family had long since started to refer to her as Hera as well demonstrating the extent that the woman had been a topic of conversation around their household. Even Zak had stopped calling her the dead chick a year back.

"Yes. The remains date from around 150,000 years ago though are even earlier that the Hera remains" Laura told her as she snapped her latex gloves off with a snap.

The two women made their way towards Laura's office, Laura holding the door open for Elosha before the both took seats on the two small love seats in the corner that Laura had spent the night on more than once. In fact on more occasions than she'd like to remember.

"Do you think they may be the mother and father of us all?" Elosha asked and Laura found herself frowning. She knew that a mother and father was mentioned within the scriptures but Elosha knew that Laura put as much stock in the scriptures as she did in President's Tigh's administration – very little.

"No, the woman never gave birth so will probably not have any direct genetic ancestral line"

Elosha smiled at her obviously quite clued to that nature of her thoughts "I mean spiritually not genetically Laura" Laura raised one of her eyebrows at her. A spiritual mother and father? It sounded ridiculous and she knew the expression betrayed her feelings on her step mother's recent statement "Do you know who Hera is yet Laura or if she is the beginner of our race?"

"No but..." she attempted to argue but Elosha raised up a hand to silence her with a small smile on her face and Laura felt once more like a young child being scolded by her mother.

"Have you ever considered that the answer may just not lie in science Laura? Or are you are pigheaded and stubborn as your father when it comes to these matters?" Elosha answered and Laura found that she was unable to answer her question "As I thought...."

Elosha busied herself with scrawling an address on the back of a report that she found on the coffee table in her elegant hand while her step daughter jumped up to make the both of them coffee. With a rip Elosha had the paper containing the address in her hands which she then pressed into the centre of Laura's palm with a soft touch. Her eyes were soft but alert as if she knew exactly what was going to happen and far more than Laura.

"You'' find a man at that address named Galen Tyrol, a most remarkable young man who is studying the origins of human life just as you are. He too is at a dead end with his research. Perhaps you could help one another?"

Laura snorted loudly "I don't need the help of some scholar thank you very much. I'm a scientist not some religious nut job"

Elosha wasn't offended; she was used to Laura's strong atheist views. She was just like her father in that regard. So instead changed the subject onto Maya and her family.

After Elosha had left Laura found that she was still clutching the address in her hand. She screwed it up and threw it in the bin but found herself taking it out, smoothing out the creases and pinning it up onto her notice board. Her hands reached for her computer to enter the address into goggle.

As the first webpage opened directing her to a temple just outside 5th Avenue all she could think was _what the frak was she doing?_

.~.

"Place them over there please" Doctor Gaius Baltar ordered as several of the bases marines carried the boxes containing the recently procured ship remnants over to his examination table. Sice stood there waiting, lab coat looking more like a couture gown and hair curling around her shoulders gracefully

"Carefully" he warned as they bumped the container into one of his workstations. The two men had the nerve to look sheepish and Gaius frowned. Where were they hiring these idiots from?

Once it had been settle down they barely had a chance to move their hands before Sice was attacking it with the crow bar she had been holding, making short work of the lid and sides which feel away to reveal a large slice of metal hull. To her left stood another workstation that was covered in piles of human remains. Both had been transported off of what had been fondly named the 'dark side of the moon' by scientists a few weeks before. Though several tests had been conducted this was the first time that Gaius was going to be working first hand with the samples and the scientists within him stirred in anticipation.

This was going to be monumental and both he and his wife knew that with monumental discoveries came more wealth and fame than they would ever need. Gaius moved to stand next to Sice whom was studying the mental with an engrossed expression on her face.

"So what do we know?" he asked her and she grinned at him handing him several reports that she herself had written that morning. Her hand wrapped around his and her grinned at her as he read.

"The composition of the metal is unlike anything I've ever seen before. An alloy of titanium and steel mixed with some other unidentified compound with traces of some sort of fuel though that too is made from a yet unidentified compound. The age has been placed around 150,000 years ago" he told him and he studied the piece of metal more carefully.

"So definitely not one of ours then?" he asked her and she nodded in agreement "What about the writing down the side?"

He ran a glove covered finger across the writing which neither of them had been able to translate "No one was able to translate aboard the station but I sent a copy of the writing to a professor Zareck in Toronto"

Gaius raised an eyebrow at her "Zareck? Isn't he the one who tried to say that our race is descended from aliens who came to our planet in a big ol' space ship?"

Sice laughed "Yes he is but we need him. Apparently he thinks it may be some form of the ancient texts so he's going to translate for as soon as possible"

"And the remains?" He enquired and she led him back to the table top on which the remains rested.

"The bones hadn't been sorted yet but after random DNA sampling it was appear that though the genetic makeup is highly similar to that of Homo Sapiens there are several distinct differences. For example there seems to be a lack of bone sialoprotein within the organic make-up of the bones" She explained using her index finger to print up a 3-d image of the bone's structure on the screens above "And as you can see this rendering the bones seem to lack all osteoclast cells of a normal healthy human bone"

Well that _was _interesting "So they're not human?"

"They many appear so but definitely not" She moved her finger again and a schematic of a human body appeared on the screen just above her head "Though from our initial scans and measurements they would seem to be highly similar to us in physical appearance"

Gaius looked over the schematics with a slight expression of wonder "We'll need to run some more tests but this is big, I can feel it"

"Do you want me to get Leoben to fax over the findings to the President's office?" Sice asked him and he nodded just imaging the expression on President's Tigh face. Sice put a hand to her ear piece and he could hear her soft tones instructing one of their assistants Leoben to fax over the documents and report to the President's office. The smile she sent him was full lipped and half lidded and made him pants uncomfortably tight.

They had met 10 years ago at the launch of some hedge fund or other. She been wearing a tight red dress and they'd been out of the door 10 minutes later. Sice had always strived to study biology but she had had to get a job as soon as she was able to leave school to support her parents. Modelling had made her a pretty large nest egg and it hadn't been long till she had her first degree under her belt. The same day she had been told she was pregnant and expecting twins they had become engaged and she had finally retired from modelling.

They'd worked together ever since. She was his fantasy woman, the mother of his children and his best friend all rolled into one and he loved her completely. Once she was finished on the phone her lips soon found their way to his and her hands to his shoulders. He kissed her soundly before pulling away all too aware of the various cameras that followed their every move. She took his hand and led him to their room and soon his thoughts stopped lingering on the strange metal fragments and dead remains.

However that night as she was tucking Gina into bed, Lida already curled up fast asleep in a foetal position, she said something that made him think once more to the earlier discovery.

"And so he drove the ship into the sun to take them both to their final resting place" she mumbled sleepily and Gaius looked at her face quizzically, her half laden eyes half covered by her long honey blonde hair.

"What was that Li?" he asked her and she yawned loudly

"I had a dream. There was a man and he was all hooked to these tubes and wires. He drove a big ship into the sun and it exploded and rained down into space in a thousand pieces. It looked really pretty"

She was soon asleep after he kissed her forehead and he couldn't help but dwell on his daughter's words. A man who had flown his ship into the sun? There was no way that that was what could have happened to the person's who remains lay down the hallway from them.

Was there?

.~.

The strong smell of incense that washed over her when she walked into the temple reminded her of the many times she visited a similar one with her mother when she'd been a younger child. The sickly scent never changed and it always made her gag. Heavy curtains lined the windows so the light that spilled into the wide entrance hall was tinged with red. Along the wall next to the incense burners hung lamps and various religious scrolls and paintings.

Laura paid no attention to them, she wasn't here to take in the scenery after all, and made her way to the young man who was waiting for her next to a dark wooden door. She was uncomfortably aware of the sharp sound her heels made on the marble floor almost uneasy to disturb the reverent silence. Growing up with a priest had left it mark.

"Professor Tyrol?" she asked and he took her hand enthusiastically pumping it in his own.

"Call me Galen please Doctor Roslin. Elosha called to inform me that you'd be visiting" Laura couldn't help but roll her eyes, of course she had. Elosha always had a uncanny habit of being right. She followed him in the direction that he had gestured in and found herself in his study filled to the brim with books and overflowing with pieces of parchment. Galen quickly and apologetically moved a large pile of papers go that she could sit down opposite to him.

"So you want to know about the book of Pythia then?" he asked and her confusion must have shown on her face because he laughed "She's one of the oracles in the ancient Sacred Scrolls. 3,600 years ago, Pythia wrote about the exile and rebirth of the human race"

"What, like some kind of prophecy?" Laura asked him and he nodded rooted through a pile of books until he found the one he was looking. The bindings were coming loose and it smelt musky and strongly of damp. She took it in her hands and delicately opened the first page.

"Exactly, Pythian prophecy Doctor Roslin. It is supposed to chronicle the exodus of humanity and their search across the stars for a new home" He flicked a few pages in the book she was holding and pointed out a certain passage.

"_"All this has happened before, and all of it will happen again" _she read aloud her eyes meeting his as seeking some kind of answer.

"Some scholars believe that humanity is caught in an eternal cycle of violence and exodus and that New Earth is just one more home that we have searched for across the stars" he explained to her before pointing out yet another passage to her.

"_And the lords anointed a leader to guide the Caravan of the Heavens to their new homeland"_ she read once more but she had the overwhelming feelings that it wasn't the first time that those very words had slipped out from her tongue.

"Most scholars believe that this refers to some kind of leader who led them across the starts to their new home. Apparently she suffered from sort of wasting disease believed most likely to be some sort of cancer. She was never supposed to see the Promised Land that she had led her people too with if your religious people believe to be New Earth"

Could Hera be this woman? But no, she had died of a heart attack which is hardly a wasting disease. Her mind wandered to think of the corpse sat on one of her examination table. She'd died of breast cancer and her remains dated from around the same time as Hera's. Could she be the dying leader?

"I have just been studying some skeletal remains this morning of a woman. It is estimated that her remains are some of the oldest ever recovered. This most interesting thing is, at least in relation to this scripture, she died of breast cancer"

She could see Galen's eyes rise upward and he began flicking through scrolls and pieces of papers that littered his desk until he found what he was looking for with a triumphant grin. He handed her a sheet of paper of which sat a photocopy of the page of some sort of diary in a language she wasn't able to read.

"This is one of the oldest ever recovered historical artefacts. From what a Professor Zareck has been able to translate it seemed to belong to a woman named Laura" she didn't miss the widening of his eyes though Laura was hardly an uncommon name "and she speaks of a President whom led her people across the stars to a new home but whom was plagued by a great disease. Though of course quite a few scholars think it's nothing more than a fake"

"So do you think this Laura is the woman mentioned in the Prophecy and could be the same woman that is lying on my examination table back at the Smithsonian" Laura couldn't help the sceptical note that coloured her voice.

"Is it really that hard to believe? You should take the copy of the translations, they aren't complete by any shot and some of the text was decayed beyond recognition but I'm sure you'll find it interesting" she nodded at him in thanks and he flicked the page so Laura was gazing upon a sketch of some sort of large structure and her mind was gone.

In her mind's eye she could see a planet, lush and green. She could feel rain on her skin and blood on her tongue, a mixture of joy and agony curling in her stomach as her entire body ached with exhaustion. A tomb and an arrow which she had held in her hands to illuminate the way. As Galen showed her more scriptures of interest a picture caught her eye and she reached out to stop his hand from turning the page.

"Wait what is that?" she asked her fingers tracing the picture of an arrow

"The arrow of Apollo that was supposed to lead the way to Earth" He looked at the started expression on her face "Are you alright Doctor Roslin?"

This was more than strange. This was downright disquieting "I'm fine. It's just I have that very arrow on display on my coffee table"

.~.

There was no way that anyone could have told her apart from a real human. She felt human to the touch, looked human to the eye and smelt human. Her skin was flesh and blood, a heartbeat throbbing underneath the skin of her wrist underneath his fingers. He rang a finger through her hair which was smooth and silky against his skin. Her eyes flickered underneath her eyelids as she dreamed.

She was his life's greatest achievement. The Boomer model and the future of robotics and New Earth's planetary defence system. When she awoke from the medically induced coma she had been placed in she would have her own individual personality and make her own choices. He had given his child free will though he wasn't claiming to be God, he never had been. He was a scientist and therefore in his opinion better than any non spatial 'God' hovering outside of the edge of the universe

She was the first of her line, the first viable Cylon model though his eighth attempt. She was number Eight, Boomer.

His phone began to ring and he flipped it open pressing it to his ear "Hello Bill Adama speaking?"

"Mr Adama its Cottle. You need to get back right away, there's something wrong with Tamara. She 's all panicked and her temperature's through the roof" the gruff voice of Doc Cottle told him across the line and he swallowed a hard lump that had developed in his throat.

"I'll come straight away" Bill felt worry pool in his stomach and he was already half way to his car before he'd flipped his phone shut. His foot didn't leave the gas until was already outside of New York City and well on his way home.

At his Mansion he had been greeted by the worried face of Tamara's personal maid and attendant Ishay Lane. She had almost run to greet him, eyes wide and lips pressed tightly together.

"I'm sorry for getting Doctor Cottle to ring you but neither of us can calm her down" her voice was near hysterical though Bill understood it perfectly. Ishay spent every day with Tamara and saw the young woman as a little sister and Bill knew how much Tamara adored Ishay.

"It's okay Ishay just take me to her" he ordered and she nodded quickly leading him to Tamara Adama's room. As he approached he could hear hysterical crying that made his heart break.

He flung the door open and was faced by a most heart wrenching sight. Tamara was curled up into a foetal position on the bed, knees clutched to her chest and tears flowing down her swollen. As soon as she saw him enter her room she had jumped up from the bed and thrown herself into his arms. Her pale frame was shaking violently and the skin pressed up against him was burning as if on fire. He wrapped his arms around her tightly

"Tam what's wrong?" he asked softly stroking her hair comfortingly

"It's all happening again Bill! The flood is coming and the planet will burn!" she looked up at him and her eyes were wide and frenzied sweat dripping down her face.

"You need to lie down Tam" he tried to push her towards the bed but she fought him off.

"Once more shall the great Caravan burn across deep space and the children of humanity shall be baptised in the blood of their makers. The dying leader shall see them numbered ten and twelve"

She suddenly went rigid in his arms and slid to the floor. He caught her and cradled her in his arms as she began to gasp for breath shaking violently with blood around her mouth "It will happen again no matter how Gaia and Uranus and their eternal angels try to stop it. Love could conquer all but you don't love her. You need her, find her Bill, find HER!"

And with that she was still. Bill could hear Ishay screaming for Doc Cottle but it was dimmed as a million miles away. All Bill could focus on was the young woman collapsed in his arms.

Tamara Adama his little sister, 25 years dead and the first human-robotic hybrid.

.~.

They were watching her sleep. Hand in hand, her hair on his shoulder. She had been furiously studying the scrolls that Galen had given her and now she was fast asleep on her desk, cheek stuck to the papers no doubt leaving an ink mark on her skin. The arrow of Apollo lay next to her on the desk glowing faintly in the dim light.

Gaia turned to Uranus and sighed, her lips pursed tightly together "She hasn't any faith. She needs faith"

He kissed her on the cheek "Just give her time. Galen planted the seed now it just needs to grow. Don't lose your own. Laura Roslin is strong no matter into what incarnation she is born"

"Will they be able to overcome this and find one another?" she asked him quietly and he smiled at her rubbing the ring she wore on her finger

"Just as we love another their love will overcome any barrier God places in front of them. A love like theirs can't just be forgotten. You should know that as you are the most precious part of my life for an eternity"

And so they watched over her as Gaius and Caprica materialised by their side. Gaia and Caprica shared a long look "She is dying and the child has begun to see. It's all beginning" Caprica sighed dejectedly "Again"

They continued their silent vigil as far away a life was extinguished and a small child dreamed of a great ship and a burning battle, the sands of time began to fall for the oncoming of the greatest choice that humanity would ever have to face.

This time all they could hope was that they would make the right choice.


End file.
